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7 ways drones have been helping to combat the coronavirus

To date there have been over 1000 deaths attributed to the Coronavirus, which originated in Wu Han, China. When news of the virus, now renamed Covid 19 by the World Health Organisation, first emerged, the Chinese authorities were criticised for their poor handling of the situation and several senior health officials have been removed from their posts.

The virus is a respiratory based one, with the main signs of infection being fever (high temperature) and a cough as well as shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. People have been advised to wear face masks, sneeze and then bin the tissue, and wash hands frequently to keep the risk of infection as low as possible. They have further been advised to remain indoors with only one family member allowed out to shop for food and other necessities every other day. The virus is highly contagious and is spreading more rapidly than SARS. To date it has killed more people in 6 weeks than SARS did in 8 months.

So, what role have drones played?

Drones as a monitoring tool. The Authorities have been using drones to ensure that the advice in place is followed and the spread of the coronavirus is limited as far as possible. Films of empty streets have been seen on every news channel.
Drones with in-built speakers have been used in Wu Han and other cities to remind citizens to wear face masks and return indoors. The language in some articles talking about this has been quite negative using adjectives of the drones such as “sharp-tongued”, verbs such as “scolding” and “yelling”, while others portray it as an education programme. In some cases the advice is looped and non-specific while in other cases, the voice is that of a local official.
Drones have been spraying areas and people with disinfectant. The autonomous precision spraying tool (the agricultural drone), can be a highly effective alternative to accurately release disinfectants over public places. Compared with traditional disinfection approaches conducted by hands or lorry, drones can be directed to spray where it is needed and cover a wider area, helping to improve public hygiene and reducing the risk of virus transmission through surface contact.
Tethered drones have been used with lighting equipment at large construction sites such as Vulcan Mountain Hospital, the 33,900m2 hospital built in 10 days for coronavirus patients.
Drones have been used to deliver critical medical supplies and patient samples. This has reduced transport time and freed up much needed land-based transport, while reducing the person to person contact.
Drones with thermal imaging solutions have been used in the eastern Liaoning Province to detect heightened body temperatures of people when out on the streets. When combined with facial recognition tools, a common tool in China used for a variety of purposes from payment to workplace security, the results are impressive.
Drones have been delivering food, face masks and disinfectant products to people, again reducing the need for person to person contact and limiting the spread of the virus.

Clearly, drones aren’t going to solve all the problems that the coronavirus poses; they are simply a tool – for good. However, all too often drones are spoken of negatively. Instead, let’s give them and the people and companies operating them, the credit for seeing the various ways they can be used for good when combating this highly contagious virus.

Elena Major, ARPAS-UK

12th February 2020

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Drones used to assess koalas’ health

The Guardian newspaper has reported the use of drones to assess koalas’ health after the rampant forest fires in Australia.

This is a great use of the technology: thermal imaging is used to find the koalas in the first place, reducing time taken meaning more time to find more koalas.

Then by hovering close by and beaming images to those nearby to assess the koalas in situ, only the koalas who are in need of treatment will be removed from their natural habitat. A drone can reach the koala’s location quicker than getting a cherry picker in place meaning faster assessments.

To remove a koala from a tree involves the use of a cherry picker, which means someone will be working at height, leaning out from the cherry picker and be at risk of falling. The drone reduces the number of times this needs to happen, reducing risk, cost and leading to more effective use of the cherry pickers.

Ultimately the health of the koalas, both those that stay in the trees and those rescued, benefits from this use. They are assessed faster, treated appropriately faster and this in turn means that more koalas will be seen in less time, which can only benefit the species.

For more photographs on this story: follow the link.

Feb 12th 2020

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PARTNERSHIP: AVY & MEDICAL DRONE SERVICE

Avy announces its partnership in the MDS consortium as its technological partner. Together we will explore the use of drones for medical services in the Dutch healthcare system.

THE NETHERLANDS HAS TAKEN-OFF WITH DRONES

The Medical Drone Service (MDS) consortium consisting of the ANWB MAA and PostNL announced their collaboration today. Along with KPN, we’re proud to be their technological partner on this journey to explore how drones can contribute to healthcare in The Netherlands.

Healthcare partners Sanquin (blood bank) and Erasmus MC (hospital & pharmacy) acknowledge the challenges of getting medical goods to patients in time now that roads are getting more congested. In the next three years we will carefully investigate how Avy’s long range wing drone operated by the ANWB MAA can be a solution for medical deliveries as illustrated in the animation below.

The capability of vertically taking-off and landing, and transitioning to forward flight, to cover long distances makes this aircraft unique in its kind. The modular payload bay can be adjusted and is easily exchangeable to transport different medical goods under strict conditions. The aircraft is designed for BVLOS flights in European airspace, resulting in a premium aircraft that is compliant with the new EASA regulations.

For more information on the Medical Drone Service visit the website https://medicaldroneservice.nl/.

In case you want to know more about Avy, our wing drone or flight operations feel free to drop us a message.

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21 November 2019

Manon Taylor

for Avy

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Australian police using drone technology to halve road crash delays

The Queensland Police Service in Australia will use the latest drone technology to dramatically reduce the impact of major traffic incidents and save the state millions of dollars in lost time and productivity.

The Queensland Police’s Forensic Crash Unit Aerial Mapping Project has demonstrated that using the latest drone technology it can cut crash scene mapping times in half; a considerable saving in resources. It was estimated that in one year, congestion caused by traffic incidents on Brisbane roads cost the community A$23m (US$15.7m) in lost time and productivity. One contributing factor to the time for road closure during traffic incidents was scene mapping by investigating officers of the Police’s Forensic Crash Unit. As a consequence, the project was set up to evaluate the benefits of using drone technology to map crash scenes.

So far, the results of the test program have been impressive. The Project Team conducted trials this year using the very latest drone technology, to reduce scene mapping time by approximately 50% thereby significantly reducing road closure times. Other benefits include a significant improvement in the quality and accuracy of evidence captured at the scene, with implementation being no more than current mapping methods. The Forensic Crash Unit has now deployed four operational drones with eight fully-qualified police drone pilots in South East Queensland. To further speed-up mapping operations, the drones are transported to crash sites on motorcycles to avoid traffic tailbacks, with riders piloting them within minutes of their arrival at the scene.

“This is a World First: The implementation of this innovative drone technology is a win-win-win. Roads closed for a shorter period, better evidence, and no increase in cost,” said Queensland Police Minister, Mark Ryan. “This innovative approach to policing is why the Queensland Police Service is rightly regarded internationally as a world class operation. They are always looking to technology to provide better outcomes for the community. This has been a thoroughly researched project and included consultation with key stakeholders to develop procedures and policies for the effective and safe deployment of the drone technology on motorways, highways and major arterial roads and its subsequent admissibility in court.”

“The savings economically are in the millions of dollars, the savings individually are probably in the thousands of hours.” said Michael Keating, Assistant Commissioner for Queensland Police.

for TrafficTechnologyToday.com

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Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub – Outline Call

Issue date	Issue date:	18 October 2019
Calendar	Opening date:	18 October 2019
Calendar	Closing date:	12 December 2019 at 16:00
Information	Status:	Open
Tag	Tag:	Invitation for outlines
Tag	Related themes:	Digital economy Engineering ICT Manufacturing the future

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) invites outline proposals for a coordination Hub for the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems programme. Up to £11.7 million (at 80% fEC please see here) is available to support one Hub for up to four years, starting from 1 June 2020.

Please note that this is a cross-UKRI programme and it is expected that applications will be multidisciplinary, led by and involving any discipline from across UKRI portfolio.

A two-stage application process will be used in this call. The first stage requires the applicants to submit an outline proposal (please see call document for details), which will be assessed by an external panel with the necessary expertise. The deadline for Hub outline proposals is 16:00 on 12 December 2019. All submissions must be done via Je-S.

Successful outline applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal, and this will be assessed by postal peer review and at an interview stage. The full proposal document and further guidance will be made available on this call page.

UKRI is holding a one-day Town Hall meeting on 18 October 2019 to discuss the details of the activity, explain the planned approach to investment and bring together stakeholders from a broad range of disciplinary backgrounds to build new connections and generate new ideas. Attendance to the Town Hall meeting is not a prerequisite to apply for funding, nor will attendance guarantee subsequent funding. For those who could not attend the event, the outputs of the Town Hall meeting will be collated as FAQs and added to this call page as soon as possible after the event.

Please note that the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems programme will be delivered in two discrete, interconnected parts, the coordination Hub and several research nodes. It is anticipated that the call for the research nodes will be launched in December 2019.

Resources

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

18th October 2019

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ITV spreads #dronesforgood message with prime-time show

ITV’s ‘999: Britain from Above’ programme aired at 8pm on Monday evening and spread a ‘drones for good’ feel good message to viewers.

It comes after a number of mainstream media outlets in recent months have been heavily criticised for portraying drones in a negative light.

This ITV show was the complete opposite and certainly went a long way in highlighting to the viewing public that all important ‘drones for good’ message.

The second in a two part series, through unseen footage and exclusive access to fire, police, coastguard and air ambulance rescue teams across England and Wales, the programme showed how the emergency services are taking to the air to keep Britain safe.

ITV said it wanted to “reveal how police forces are deploying military-spec drones to search for vulnerable missing people in impossible to reach places; how the fastest air ambulances are racing against the clock to save lives when every second counts, and how fire services are fighting blazes from the sky.”

It described the programme as “The inside, untold story of how Britain’s emergency services are taking to the skies to save lives.”

It gave an in-depth look at a variety of specific use-cases for drones in emergency service work, including how police forces are reaping the benefits of the technology when searching for missing people.

This positive look at drones comes three months after DJI challenged the BBC on its airing of the Aldo Kane programme ‘Britain’s next air disaster? Drones?’.

Link to the ITV Hub and the Show: 999: Britain from Above

CommercialDroneProfessional

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Mapping for the Kenyan Red Cross with Altohelix

Bringing drone technology to the gobal communities who may benefit most is difficult. Challenges range from regulatory hurdles, communcation issues, extreme weather, to community acceptance: but aerial imagery and mapping can provide stunning benefits to remote populations.

At the Pix4D User Conference in Denver this week Hyun-June Choi, CEO of Canada’s Altohelix, took us inside their mission working with the Kenyan Red Cross.

Altohelix first worked with the Kenyan Red Cross to develop some clear short-term goals: mapping areas of disaster risk; crop monitoring for food security; and aerial video and photography for communications and PR efforts.

Kenya experiences extreme weather cycles – and in some areas, the floods and the rains consistently cause loss of homes, crops, and lives. “They have a constant cycle of floods and drought – and the cycles are getting worse,” says Choi. As a result, the Kenyan government is working to resettle some communities who get flooded every year: a critical and immediate need for aerial data.

image courtesy Altohelix

No Regulations

Mapping areas for resettlement to ensure that they are out of the flood plain and appropriate for new construction was Altohelix’ first mission. But they immediately ran into a roadblock: “The first thing we had to do was to overcome regulations,” says Choi. “Kenya does not allow any civilian drone operations. The Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is still drafting the drone regulations for the country, and Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) are the only ones officially allowed to fly.” Altohelix was able to work with the Kenyan government and KDF to receive permissions: they were accompanied by KDF personnel on all of their flights.

Training and Operations

image courtesy Altohelix

Knowledge transfer was part of the mission, and Altohelix did 5 days of ground school and 5 days of flight training. They used Mavic 2 Pro aircraft, the cheapest, most available and most practical tool for the job. Then it was time to execute: but, as Choi explains, conditions weren’t ideal. “No cell phone, no electricity, no wi-fi, no paved roads,” says Choi. “It was challenging. ”

Using imagery from the Mavic 2 Pro and Pix4D for processing, the team created a digital surface model (DSM) of the proposed resettlement area, to ensure that the area was out of the flood zone and safe for new construction. “The project showed the full extent of the flood damage, and the changing landscape,” says Choi. “With a single flood, the entire shape of the river bed changed.” It’s a model that simply couldn’t be created with satellite imagery, Choi points out: “Satellite data resolution is just too low.” As a result of that mission, the Kenyan Red Cross constructed 5,715 new shelters, replacing the weather vulnerable traditional huts destroyed by the flooding.

Next Steps

image: courtesy Altohelix

That mission has smoothed the way for expansion of the program, which has now been approved. The Kenyan team plans to purchase more equipment and expand into new missions. “We’ll execute more operations,” says Choi. “We’ll purchase Pix4Dreact [real time 2D mapping], Pix4Dmapper, a Wingtra One [fixed wing drone] and sensors, and we’ll make improvements to the SOPs [standard operating procedures.]

The team has already expanded operations to monitor the rapidly expanding refugee camps in the western part of the country and evaluate drought conditions. They are providing critical data for decision makers when many lives are at stake. It’s a job that only a drone can do – and Altohelix is helping the Kenyan Red Cross to do it.

by Miriam McNabb

Drone Life

3/10/2019

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Maharashtra govt, India, plans to deliver emergency medicines through drones

Zipline drones will make on-demand and emergency deliveries of blood products, vaccines and life-saving medications

Workers pack a box of vaccines to be delivered by a Zipline drone in Ghana | Photo: Reuters

After African countries like Ghana and Rwanda, now the Maharashtra government is also planning to deliver emergency medicines through drones. The service, expected to be launched in early 2020, will be operated by California-based automated logistics firm Zipline.

Announcing the partnership with Zipline, the world’s first and only national-scale drone delivery service, the state government said the initiative will be supported through a grant from Serum Institute of India (SII), a leading vaccine manufacturer.

An autonomous delivery drone-based logistics network will be established by Zipline. A total of 10 distribution centres are planned across Maharashtra in phases over the next few years. The new initiative is a part of the state government’s vision of using drone delivery to establish universal seven-days-a-week access to lifesaving and critical medicines which will reach to its 120 million citizens over the coming years.

Zipline drones will make on-demand and emergency deliveries of blood products, vaccines and life-saving medications. In the first phase, two distribution centres located near Pune and Nandurbar will be established to service public health facilities in those regions beginning in early 2020. The operations in Pune and Nandurbar will be financed through a grant from SII. Future distribution centres will be financed by the government of Maharashtra and other private and philanthropic partners, the state government statement here said.

To increase access and reduce medicial waste, key stock of blood products, vaccines and life-saving medications will be stored at distribution centres for just-in-time delivery. Health workers will place orders by text message or call and promptly receive their deliveries in 30 minutes on average.

“The drones both take off from and land at Zipline’s distribution centres, requiring no additional infrastructure or manpower at the clinics they serve.

They fly autonomously and can carry 1.8 kilos of cargo, cruising at 110 kilometres an hour, and have a round-trip range of 160 kilometres — even in high speed winds and rain,” the statement said.

Each of the two distribution centres in Maharashtra will cover a delivery area of more than 20,000 square km. They will collectively be capable of serving up to 20 million people. Deliveries are made from the sky, with the drone descending to a safe height above the ground and releasing a box of medicine by parachute to a designated spot at the health centres it serves.

“Maharashtra has one of the best healthcare systems in India. This new emergency service is a great solution to deliver vaccines, blood and other lifesaving products instantly when time is of essence. It will help ensure that millions of people in Maharashtra will always get the care they need,” said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo said millions of people die every year across the world because they cannot get the medicine they need when they need it. “Instant drone delivery can help solve that problem,” he added. The Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital, Katalyst Ventures, Temasek, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Stanford University backed firm’s goal is to serve 700 million people across the world in the next five years.

The firm’s operations started in October of 2016 to deliver blood to 21 hospitals in Rwanda. Since then, the service has expanded nationwide covering most of the country’s 12 million population by drone delivery of medical products at 450 facilities. In April 2019, Zipline partnered with the government of Ghana to launch the first of four distribution centres that will serve 2,000 health facilities and a population of 12 million people across the country.

SII’s CEO Adar Poonawalla felt that the initiative would create deeper impact and extend the immunisation cover in the state.Flying high

An autonomous delivery drone-based logistics network will be established
10 distribution centres to be set up in phases across Maharashtra over the next few years
Drones will make on-demand, emergency deliveries of vaccines, life-saving medications
In the 1st phase, 2 distribution centres located near Pune and Nandurbar will be established
The operations will be financed through a grant from Serum Institute of India

Sohini Das | Mumbai Last Updated at September 17, 2019 01:15 IST

Business Standard

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Telangana May Use Drones To Deliver Blood and Medicines

Telangana government will team up with the World Economic Forum and Apollo Hospitals foundation for the pilot project to test drone delivery.

Telangana may soon start using drones for medical puproses. (Representational)

NEW DELHI: In a bid to improve access to health care for communities across the state, the Telangana government has adopted a new framework to use drones for last-mile delivery.

Co-designed with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Apollo Hospitals Group company Healthnet Global Ltd, it will become the foundation for the pilot project to test drone delivery, according to a release by the WEF.

“Adopting this framework brings Telangana one step closer to rolling out a system that could save lives. It outlines what challenges drones can solve, how to oversee operations and how to implement them. We are looking forward to the next steps of this project,” said Timothy Reuter, head of aerospace and drones, at the World Economic Forum.

The framework outlines the key factors in evaluating drone operations and the technical requirements for each use case. It will ensure that government services are used as efficiently as possible and will serve as the starting point for discussions with civil aviation authorities.

Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao said the state has been a pioneer in using technology for improving the lives of the citizens. “Using drones to deliver blood and other medical goods to people in remote and inaccessible areas is an exemplary project that demonstrates use of technology for the social good.”

Apollo Hospitals Group Joint Managing Director Sangita Reddy said, “We are happy working with the World Economic Forum and the Government of Telangana, as a clinical partner in this drones project, which I am sure is the next step in our journey of remote health care delivery.”

This framework is part of the Drones and Tomorrow’s Airspace Portfolio, run out of the World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India.

Telangana | Press Trust of India | Updated: October 04, 2019 17:20 IST

by Taboola

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An update on the trees planted by drones

And it’s Good News!

These tree-planting drones are firing ‘seed missiles’ into the ground. Less than a year later, they’re already 20 inches tall.

10 drones can plant 400,000 trees in a day — enough to combat climate change in real

Technology is the single greatest contributor to climate change but it may also soon be used to offset the damage we’ve done to our planet since the Industrial Age began.

In September 2018, a project in Myanmar used drones to fire “seed missiles” into remote areas of the country where trees were not growing. Less than a year later, thousands of those seed missiles have sprouted into 20-inch mangrove saplings that could literally be a case study in how technology can be used to innovate our way out of the climate change crisis.

“We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions,” Irina Fedorenko, co-founder of Biocarbon Engineering, told Fast Company. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.”

According to Fedoranko, just two operators could send out a mini-fleet of seed missile planting drones that could plant 400,000 trees a day — a number that quite possibly could make massive headway in combating the effects of manmade climate change.

The drones were designed by an ex-NASA engineer. And with a pressing need to reseed an area in Myanmar equal to the size of Rhode Island, the challenge is massive but suddenly within reach. Bremley Lyngdoh, founder and CEO of World Impact, says reseeding that area could theoretically house as many as 1 billion new trees.

“Obviously, planting a billion trees will take a long time without the help of drones,” Lyngdoh told Fast Company.

But they’ve now got a powerful new ally in their corner. For context, it took the Worldview Foundation 7 years to plant 6 million trees in Myanmar. Now, with the help of the drones, they hope to plant another 4 million before the end of 2019.

Myanmar is a great case study for the project. In addition to the available land for the drone project, the nation has been particularly hit by the early effects of climate change in recent years. Rising sea levels are having a measurable impact on the population. In addition to their ability to clear CO2 from the atmosphere, healthy trees can also help solidify the soil, which can reduce the kind of soil erosion that has been affecting local populations in Myanmar.

Going forward, technologies like seed-planting drones could help stem the tide of catastrophic climate change while our governments and societies work to change the habits of consumers and corporations that are driving the problem. Our endless hunger for new technology may be the driving force behind climate change and deforestation but it could also end up being the solution to a problem.

4/10/2019

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